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Friday, October 30, 2009

Thunderbolt and Kerfoot

Pretty snazzy looking joint, built and completed in 2008 the new Montreal soccer stadium is fabulous,how much 300 million..200 million...not even close,price...under 50 million dollars.

As you know the provincial government have lost their minds,I wrote earlier in the year about the new retractable roof being cancelled,the price last spring...365 million dollars...6 months later a new price of 458 million dollars to put a retractable roof on a outdated dinosaur..Now don`t get me wrong,if we had surpluses maybe but with multi billion dollars deficits we have to be out of our minds...First off, it`s being advertised as being ready for grey cup 2011...

Well my friends, a football fan I am but what are the odds that a 458 million$ retractable roof would be opened up in mid-winter in Vancouver? Even if it isn`t raining don`t you think it would be cold outside? Come on in to our dome and we will freeze your butt off by opening the roof? Besides 12 soccer dates would the retractable roof gather up more events? Would a big rock band hold a outdoor/indoor concert? The sound sucks at BC place stadium, would we hold extra boat or RV shows.....I think not....And what about the grass, if we are going to have an open air soccer stadium we have to have real grass, do we tear out the concrete floor,add drainage and sod, how does the grass grow? Leave the roof open, what about birds flying in, what shape would the grass be in mid-winter for a grey cup? Would having artificial turf in a retractable roof building be super tacky?...I think so.(have a look here at Safeco field in Seattle,brand new,retractable roof,cost ...about 600 million in total) http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/seabpk.htm

And a beautiful facility it is.....There is more gobbily goop related to this project,Pavco..The company that runs BC Place state that they will save 3 million per year on energy,because they won`t have to keep the roof pressurized,well hmmm, first off I don`t believe that number and there is no way to access it,secondly there must be a cost in opening and closing a massive retractable structure and,there must be a cost when you open up the roof in mid-winter for a grey cup game and let all the heat out,plus....There is always moving parts that require maintenance when your talking massive retractable.

Now the terms of the bid and cost are confidential and even in estimate debates no numbers are being released but.....There are some thing that we do know, firstly,the roof won`t be paid off for 40 years,that`s right 40 years, some land will be sold adjacent to BC place to help pay for this but who knows what`s going to happen in real estate,good luck with the 1.5 billion olympic village....Anyways, we can do some simple math,BC Ferries owes 1.4 billion and just interest payments are 50 million per year,so the carrying costs on 458 million will probably be in the range of 15 million to 20 million per year,so this roof after 40 years of carrying charges will probably cost in excess of 1 billion$ dollars!

But two things have got me really riled on this subject,firstly how the media laps it up, secondly,where the hell is the NDP,......Gordon Campbell is a proven lawbreaker and proven liar and he couldn`t run a lemonade stand but damn it already, the NDP are worried about offending a few thousand cheap soccer fans by coming out railing against the retractable boondoggle, what a bunch of losers, what votes would they lose? a few votes on commercial drive,how many votes would they gain across the province,do you think they care in Kitimat, the 534 workers at the Timber west Urocan mill who were just told their fired,do they care,or how about in MacKenzie,or Trail or Powell river....Take a goddamm stand NDP...

Which brings me to Kerfoot, Here this man who owns land behind water street in Vancouver,all he needs is the Port of Vancouver to sell him/Trade him 1.5 hectares of waterfront land and he would build a brand new soccer stadium that would cost the taxpayers nothing! The port of Vancouver would give up nothing,they would still have the rail easement in perpetuity(forever).....By the way, inside renovations to the interior of BC place stadium will cost 104 million by the times the 2010 Owelimpics are here, the retractable roof...558 million,and that`s before they even started,you know that number will rise by hundreds of millions and the government will still say it`s on time on budget, and here are some more costs you might not be familiar with....BC place will lose over a years worth of bookings during construction,what might that cost be? And there`s more,the BC Lions and whitecaps will play at empire stadium until the roof get finished,well my friends,Pavco is on the hook for 30.000 seats,outhouses and a temporary shelter at empire stadium(what`s left of empire stadium)that will cost probably tens of millions more and for what.....

To have the most expensive roof on top of an old outdated stadium, and to bear that cost when Mr .Kerfoot states, 1.5 hectares of land and I will build a beautiful soccer/event stadium at no cost to the taxpayer.....